Dagmar Pavlíková

"Before the revolution, there were strikes everywhere in Prague. Always on holidays, on the anniversary of Palach, when Anežka was ordained in St. Vitus Cathedral. There were already demonstrations there, many people flocked there and police intervention was expected. It was common. I went to almost all the demonstrations. We didn't know that it would flip and that this particular demonstration would be a turning point."

"I loved reading and I would have loved to study Czech language or Czech studies. But at that time it wasn't possible at all because it was set up in such a way that if you went to a vocational school, you couldn't go to another university under the communists. You had to continue in that field. So, from a health point of view, if you wanted to go to another school or medical school, you had to get straight A's. Because you were already destined to be a nurse or a lab technician, and the state put money into that education, so you were going to be a nurse. Only if you got straight A's did the school write a recommendation and you could apply to medical school. Otherwise, there wasn't much chance of getting out of the vocational schools. Let alone another major. If I wanted to go into education or science, I didn't have a chance from nursing. Even if I pass the entrance exam, no one talks to you. The recommendation from the principal and the class teachers was very important."